Tuesday, July 25, 2017

Eat, Drink, Move, Sleep, Health, Be With Others

Sometimes horses remind me of what's really important in life.

Living a good life isn't fundamentally about achievement - how many ribbons you win, how many things you're capable of doing, how much money you make or whether you're important (whatever that means). I think we humans, with our busy minds, often overcomplicate things, and forget to pay attention to the essentials. We can also obsess about the past or worry about the future, rather than paying attention to what is right in front of us. And sometimes, in our interactions with horses, we bring our human (and egotistical) baggage along - impatience, anger, frustration, wanting to win, wanting to make more money, not listening to the other, or being too much in our minds instead of in our whole person (body, mind and soul) - both we and the horses sometimes pay the cost.

Horses can teach us another way to be. Here's what horses need - I think we need pretty much the same things - not all horses have these things and many people certainly don't:

Eat - enough to eat and food that is high-quality and that won't make you sick

Drink - fresh, clean water

Move - space and time to move, run and play, especially outside where you can enjoy the sun, wind, rain and nature (well, maybe not flies and mosquitos)

Sleep - comfortable, quiet, safe place to sleep and nothing that keeps you from good rest

Health - adequate, compassionate and not excessive medical, dental (and hoof) care, and relief from suffering at the end of life

Be With Others - being with friends, family and just out with others that you can interact and socialize with